H+H Blog

By Sally Bradford Few masterworks of Baroque music can rival Handel’s Messiah for its eternal popularity. The Handel and Haydn Society has performed Messiah over 450 times in our 211-year history. Our annual performances during Thanksgiving weekend have become a beloved holiday tradition, as Boston as Fenway Park!   Many of us are familiar with Messiah, but some may …

Ten years after the Pilgrims landed on the shores of Cape Cod, another group of English Puritans led by John Winthrop arrived in Massachusetts and made the Shawmut Peninsula home. They soon founded the town of Boston in September 1630. As one of America’s oldest cities, Boston lays claim to many American “firsts” including the …

Not sure which concerts to choose in our 2025–26 Season? Don’t worry– H+H double bassist Heather Miller Lardin has got you covered! Heather shares her top picks for the season’s must-see performances and what she’s looking forward to in the music. Beethoven Symphony no. 7: oct 24 + 25 at symphony hall As a double …

Not sure which concerts to choose in our 2025–26 Season? Don’t worry–JongHun Kim who heads up the H+H Youth Choruses has got you covered! JongHun shares his top picks for the season’s must-see performances and what he’s looking for in the music. Saul: Oct 3 + 5 at symphony hall I can’t wait for the return …

H+H follows Historically Informed Performance practices, commonly shortened to HIP. Because H+H performs music from the 17th though the early-19th centuries, current understanding of the musical traditions associated with those centuries underlies any performance decision.

Subscriptions are now on sale for our 2025–26 Season and you can secure your spot online or by calling our Box Office. Plus, single tickets for our thrilling season opener, Handel’s Saul, are officially on sale now. Not sure which concerts to choose? Don’t worry–Joe from Marketing has got you covered! Joe shares his top …

By John Tamilio III, Ph.D. There is a moment during H+H’s performance of Handel’s Messiah when two trumpet players emerge from opposite wings of the Symphony Hall balcony and play a fanfare. It’s one of my favorite parts of this famous oratorio. My heart skips a beat at the sound of the majestic flourish, imagining that this is how …

Get Ready for Beethoven 9 By John Tamilio III, Ph.D. According to legend, Ludwig van Beethoven had to be turned around to face the audience after his Symphony No. 9’s 1824 premiere; his hearing loss was so acute that he couldn’t hear their rapturous applause. Nevertheless, this first audience was clearly awestruck by the otherworldly …

By John Tamilio III, Ph.D. The Handel and Haydn Society has been a leading player in the Boston music scene for over 200 years, but for the past four decades—since the arrival of former Artistic Director Christopher Hogwood in 1986—it has been in the vanguard of ensuring the early music capital of North America has …

Dr. Ellen Harris didn’t plan on writing a book about homosexual subtext in George Frideric Handel’s chamber cantatas. But as one of the foremost Handel scholars in the world—Dr. Harris is the Class of 1949 Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the current President of the Handel House Foundation of America—she had …